Nova Scotia Community College

Nova Scotia Community College

Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) is committed to building Nova Scotia’s economy and quality of life through education and innovation. Serving the province through a network of 13 campuses, the College offers over 100 certificate and diploma programs in five academic schools, reflecting labour market needs and opportunities in Nova Scotia. From Sydney to Yarmouth, from Amherst to Halifax, you can find an NSCC learning environment in fifteen towns and cities throughout Nova Scotia. NSCC’s primary goal: student success. In an annual survey of its graduates, the College has found 86% are employed, most in their field of choice, with close to 90% of those employed living and working in Nova Scotia. Each year, NSCC welcomes more than 25,000 students.

NSCC works closely with employers and industry to design programs that meet their needs, helping to build Nova Scotia’s economy through a well-educated and highly-skilled work force. The typical class size is 20-30 students. Students have the opportunity to get to know their instructors and classmates, and are very involved in their day-to-day learning.

Fast Facts

We design programs and learning spaces in collaboration with industry, meeting current / emerging workforce needs. Examples: Irving Shipbuilding Centre of Excellence, customized training for many major employers in NS.

Our Applied Research team is equipped with leading-edge technology: topo-bathymetric lidar, a laser-sintering machine, and an alternative energy lab. Learning is enhanced for students through hands-on projects using this technology.

Our campuses and learning centres reach from Yarmouth to Sydney to Amherst and a dozen communities in between. Our sites provide learning closer to home and support community led initiatives.

We support a continuum of learning with increasing numbers of students coming from university to enrol in Advanced Diplomas and more NSCC graduates taking advantage of 2+2 agreements with universities.

Dedicated staff teams foster the importance of diversity and inclusion, the spirit of entrepreneurship, and safe work and learning practices. We are committed to sustainability and remaining accessible to communities.

Campuses

13

Enrolment

9629

Full-time

1116

Part-time

125

International

2174

Apprentice

559

Indigenous

This is how we...

Contribute to our Community

As a college, we are a community committed to the success and fulfillment of every student – in education, in career and in life. We believe the future of our province lies in the power of learning. When individuals transform their lives through learning, they have the power to transform their communities. As they transform their communities, they transform our province. Our campuses are critical in our ability to realize our vision. With campuses and learning centres located throughout the province, our students seldom have to travel more than 80 kilometers to access learning at NSCC. Many courses are also available through online delivery or collaboratively with other campuses via videoconference; and several programs are delivered in a blended format, combining online learning with hands-on applied learning campus experiences. Real world learning experiences are embedded in our programs, with all students having opportunities to build their skills through service learning, work experience placements, clinical practice, participation in applied research and international learning experiences. We work actively with communities, employers, industry and government to ensure that our suite of programs are designed and delivered to meet current and future community and provincial needs across every sector of the economy.

Foster Student Success

Applied Research – Bright Future in Smart Energy

Imagine a home heating system that can turn itself off when it knows you’re not home. Or water heaters turning on automatically to store energy from a tidal generating station. NSCC research scientist Dr. Alain Joseph believes this may soon be a reality. Dr. Joseph is leading a team of faculty, students and industry partners, with a $2.3 million grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, to analyze energy distribution using advanced telemetry and analytics. Their findings will help develop new products and services that lead to more affordable, sustainable forms of energy. Electronic engineering students John Clarke and Alex Pelger are working with a local energy company to produce a device to monitor and display energy levels of solar-powered hot water tanks. This device will help people adapt their habits so they’re using solar energy instead of electrical energy.

Community Connections – Ships on her horizon

For Denise Watters, joining the new generation of shipbuilders that will modernize the Royal Canadian Navy’s fleet is the opportunity of a lifetime. “I hope to have my hands on the first one that hits the water so I can proudly say I was part of it right from the start.” Denise is one of 19 women in a new program between NSCC, Women Unlimited and Irving Shipbuilding to prepare them for a career in shipbuilding. It’s quite a change for this mother of four who has worked 20 years in the hospitality industry. But she wanted something more hands-on – a career where she could earn more to support her family. “To have job security, benefits, a good salary and be able to work for a great company like Irving, right here at home as I earn my Red Seal is amazing.”

Dillon MacMillan

Port Hood native overcomes accident to become welder Dillon MacMillan wanted to be a welder ever since high school. He planned to attend NSCC when his life turned upside down. After the car he was traveling in went off the road, Dillon awoke in hospital, paralyzed from the waist down. He spent the next year at a rehabilitation centre working on his recovery. But he refused to let go of his dream of being a welder. Less than two years after his accident, with the assistance of a wheelchair that allows him to stand, he enrolled at NSCC and completed the 22-week Welding course, and is now searching for employment in his field. “I don’t want people to look at me and think, ‘he’s kicked in the door for people with disabilities,’ I want them to look at me and say, ‘there’s nothing off limits for anyone’.”

Partner with Business and Community

Industry

Irving Shipbuilding Centre of Excellence, Nova Scotia Community College The Irving Shipbuilding Centre of Excellence is not a physical structure, but an initiative established by Irving Shipbuilding Inc. and NSCC to build opportunities for Nova Scotians interested in careers in shipbuilding. The centre’s work is to provide pathways and access to opportunities, programs and training for all Nova Scotians, with particular focus on under-represented communities, to effectively work in the shipbuilding industry. Specifically, NSCC and Irving Shipbuilding are growing career opportunities for First Nations, African Canadians, persons with disabilities and women.

Community

NSCC’s First Nations’ student population has grown 28% since 2012 and First Nations learners now have an opportunity to learn, alongside non-Aboriginal students, in their own community. The Wagmatcook Learning Centre is a national first, wholly owned by the Wagmatcook Education Authority, Ltd. At the official opening Chief Norman Bernard noted the importance of the relationship between NSCC and the Wagmatcook First Nation: “Our collaboration with NSCC offers a unique opportunity for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students to study together and eventually to enter the job market with equal skills.” When the Centre opened in 2014, TD Bank of Canada donated $100,000, providing at least three annual bursaries to Aboriginal women pursuing a career in Trades. NSCC’s Strait Area Campus, which has provided training in the community for several years, is now in its second year of offering NSCC certificate and diploma programs at the Centre.

Support Indigenous Students

By employing First Nations Student Services coordinators to advise and support students at campuses close to First Nations communities throughout the province.

By working directly with First Nations communities and employers to develop customized programs that connect students with employers and provide targeted learning leading directly to employment. The learning site is generally the students’ home community.

By delivering NSCC Certificate and Diploma Programs in facilities operated by First Nations communities.

By inviting First Nations communities to host events and cultural celebrations on campus.